1. The Truth About the Use of Depleted
Uranium (DU) Weapons by US and UK Troops

The US and UK troops in the attacks on Iraq that started on 21 March
2001 used DU weapons during the battles at various places in Iraq. The
truth of the use of DU weapons by US troop was verified and admitted
by Brigadier General Brooks in a press briefing on 26 March of the same
year when he said, “DU bombs had been used.” (E1).

Michael Kilpatrick, Deputy Director of Deployment Health Support in
the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs,
at a forum at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on 6 March 2004,
said, “The Army fired and used from tanks and armored vehicle 24
tons or less of DU bombs, and the Air Force, 10 tons or less of DU bombs
from A-10 planes. These, when combined, would be equivalent to
115 tons of metallic uranium (E2).

The US troop has not made any further public announcements detailing
the use of DU weapons, where they have been dropped, and the quantity
of DU weapons used, and this matter has been clarified one by one by
evidences on the countless number of DU weapons used in this war based
on the efforts and good hearts of world-known journalists and scientists
who have conducted surveys on DU in Iraq.

(1) Asst. Professor Hiroyuki Fujita of Keio University conducted
surveys in various places in Iraq, and discovered countless DU bombs
in the urban district of Baghdad. Also, from perforated holes in
destroyed tanks, he detected radiation, and confirmed micronized DU oxide
collected from the pool of an ice-making factory. (E4).

(2) A Commissioned Officer of the US Armed Forces, in a
US paper, testified that “500 tons of DU bombs had been used,” and “Bunker-Buster
GBU-28 is equipped with DU.” (E6)

(3) Ed Pennel, a US soldier, wrote to his via email that “on
29 March DU bombs were used.” (E7)

(4) Scott Peterson discovered DU bombs and fine powder believed
to be oxidized particles of depleted uranium in the vicinity of the Planning
Ministry Building and a destroyed Iraqi tank in Baghdad (E3).

(5) The Secretary of Defense of Netherlands admitted that
DU bombs had been used in Samawa (E8).

Also, before the outbreak of the war, on 15 March 2003, in a press briefing
at the Department of Defense, Colonel Naughton, stated that “Abrams
tanks had been loaded with DU bombshells,” and “so were A-10
planes” because “there was not other choice” (E9). Witnesses
had repeatedly seen civilian facilities being targeted by A-10 planes
starting with Iraq’s Planning Ministry during the aerial bombing
of Baghdad. Report on the investigation conducted by Scott Peterson,
as a matter of fact, corroborated the statement given by Colonel Naugton
at the above-mentioned press briefing. Abrams tanks were
the main battle tanks used in the ground assault of Iraq. It is,
therefore, highly probable that aside from the facts already verified,
the US Armed Forces has used in large quantity DU weapons, even exceeding
the reported volume, in all areas of offensive operations in Iraq, even
at densely populated areas, particularly Baghdad, Basra, etc. Even
the British Defense Ministry has admitted using 1.9 tons of DU weapons
(E10). The locations have not been revealed to the public, but as an
example, according to a British paper, on 25 March 2003, there has been
an indication of the probability that DU bombs were used at the western
part of Basra City during an accidental firing by a British military
Challenger tank to another British Challenger tank (E11).

2. Special Properties of Depleted Uranium
(DU)

Uranium is found extensively in nature as a mixture of three isotopes. Natural
uranium is not only made up of 0.72% of Uranium 235, which causes nuclear
fission, but also is mostly (99.2746%) Uranium 238, which does not cause
nuclear fission, and the remaining 0.0054%, is Uranium 234. For this
reason, in order to effectively use it in nuclear power plants, or in
making nuclear bombs, it is necessary to perform the process called “concentration” by
allowing the increase of the percentage of Uranium 235 that causes nuclear
fission. The by-product in large quantity of this concentration process
is depleted uranium, and is in fact radioactive wastes. The name “depleted” gives
the impression that it has very little harmful effect, but its radiation
dose is equivalent to 60% of natural uranium, and it emits alpha-ray
radiation. Alpha ray has a weak penetration force, can bounce in
the air for only a number of centimeters, and can be blocked off by a
piece of paper. Accordingly, it cannot affect the human body if
there is no direct contact with it, but if even just a small particle
of it enters the body, it can cause an extremely serious internal radiation
exposure. Also, it is an extremely dangerous material that has
the combined properties of not only the toxicity of radiation ray, but
also the toxicity of heavy metals. And its half-life is 4.5 billion years,
and is said to continue releasing radiation perpetually.

Special Properties of Depleted Uranium (DU) Weapons

Storing depleted uranium is enormously expensive, but disposing it by
all means is what the US Department of Energy has wanted to do. It
is in military weapons that depleted uranium is used in extremely large
scale, and it is used mainly as penetration body that is attached to
bombshells for the sake of increasing its penetration capacity, and also
as armor of tanks in order to increase its defense capacity. Mainly,
uranium weapons have the following advantages:

Depleted uranium, because of its very heavy density (1.7
times of lead, 2.5 times of iron) and hardness, when used
to tip bullets, increases the penetration power of the
bullets, and displays such tremendous capacity as to power
to open holes in thick iron plates and concrete.

Even when there are no explosives inside the bombshell,
it explodes upon impact, and the capacity to kill and injure
the enemy is high because of the high temperature it causes
when it burns.

It is very cheap because its raw materials are radioactive
wastes (E12).

However, when depleted uranium explodes upon impact, and burns with
high temperature, it becomes micro-particles of oxidized uranium (ceramic
form aerosol of diametrical-micron; a micron is equivalent to 1/1000mm),
discharged heavily, and are packed in tanks. Also, the particles
diffused in the atmosphere and whirled up in the sky, pollute vast range
of the atmosphere, and also, the particles that fall on the ground pollute
the environment such as the soil and water, etc.

Once the uranium particles are inhaled into the body, the particles
attach first to the trachea and the respiratory system. As the
particles are practically insoluble, they are difficult to dissolve in
the blood, and stay there for a long period of time. Eventually
these clinging particles continue to expose the neighboring organs to
radiation. By that, they cause the cell and the gene to go into some
transformation, and cause cancers, leukemia, lymphoma, congenital disorders
and defects. Then, gradually, they are absorbed into the blood
and lymph, and cause various illnesses and damages to the whole body.
Also, aside from inhalation, they get into the body and enter the bloodstream
by oral ingestion and through wounds.

This kind of very dangerous weapons are being diffused in large quantity
all over Iraq by the US and British troops. Not only during the war,
but also after the war, and an unimaginable length of time of 4.5 billion
years hereafter, the people of Iraq will have to bear the burden of living
in this vast polluted land and learn how to survive with this grim reality. The
British and US troops, at the instance that they drop DU weapons, do
not just snatch away precious lives but cause the Iraqis further and
eternal miseries.

Physical Damages in Iraq After the Gulf War

During the Gulf
War in January 1991, the US Armed Forces dropped 320 tons
of depleted uranium weapons on Iraq. Since
after the war, there has been a high incidence of strange
phenomenon not seen in Iraq before the war. There have been
several incidences of such phenomenon as several members
of one family developing cancer, or one patient having several
types of cancer, etc., cancer that spreads fast, the outbreak
of infectious diseases due to fast spreading cancer, leukemia,
aplastic anemia, and malignant tumor, and immunodeficiency,
massive herpes, and herpes zoster pain, symptoms resembling
AIDS, syndrome due to liver and kidney dysfunction, hereditary
dysphasia (hereditary damage) due to gene defects. Children,
especially infants, who cannot fight back and are blameless,
have become the number one victims of this war. The southern
City of Basra, which is near the battleground of the Gulf
War, has been very seriously damaged, and according to a
doctor at the Basra Educational Hospital, the number of people
who have succumbed to cancer rose from 34 in 1988 prior to
the Gulf War to the astonishing figure of 603 in 2001 that
was 17 times larger. (E15).

(1) Basra Maternity and Pediatrics Hospital.
Mohammed Hoji (5) was diagnosed with leukemia just a year
after his own mother, who was also confined in the same hospital,
died of leukemia. The physician in charge of this case, Dr.
Surin Shirub, related, “What makes this case to stand
out is that the whole family and the brothers one by one
have succumbed to cancer and leukemia. This kind of
phenomenon never existed before the Gulf War.” The
aunt, Abed (32), who was caring for the boy lamented, “Why
do we have to suffer like this even when the war is over?” (E16).

(2) Zein (5), who was confined in the
Basra Maternity and Pediatrics Hospital, 5 months before,
suddenly developed a swollen abdomen, and was diagnosed with
leukemia. Since then, he had become weak and lost his gaiety. His
mother, Semal (25), sighed, “I would like America to
know how the war has caused us so much miseries for many
generations to come.” (E15)

(3) Abbas (5), who was diagnosed with
leukemia 3 years ago, was sleeping soundly beside his mother
Hamdi (30). The hair on his head had become extremely thin
as an effect of drugs administered to him. Hamdi said, “It’s
hard when you are helpless to do anything to save your child
from his sufferings.” Dr. Jasem (32) of this hospital
related, “The damages of the war are not a temporary
matter. Even after that, its innocent victims will
suffer for generations to come.” (E15)

These innocent children of Iraq, in fact, have been deprived
of their rights to be born with good health and grow normally
because of the effects of these DU weapons. Furthermore,
the economic sanctions imposed on Iraq by the UN from August
1990 had contributed more to this pathetic situation. The
UN Resolution 661 had exempted from the embargo materials
to be used for medical purposes. However, the committee
that was charged with the implementation of the embargo in
accordance with the provision of the Resolution 661 could
not make this exemption operative due to opposition by commissioners
from the US and UK, and thus, there arose a shortage of medical
supplies, vaccines, syringes, anesthetics, and medical apparatuses
necessary for medical treatments. (E67). According to a UNICEF
report, by February 1991, medical supplies had reached 1/6
of the normal level of stockpile. Also, UNICEF, in
a 1993 report, announced, “at the beginning of the
Gulf War, the number of children dying was more or less 100,000,
but after the war, the rate of death has increased 3 times
of the number before the war. Medical care, and insurance
service were rendered useless due to the shortage of supplies
and apparatuses for medical care and treatment. And also,
due to depleted uranium bombs that were used during the Gulf
War, the number of cancer patients suddenly increased after
the war. If proper treatment had been provided at the early
stage of the disease, death could have been avoided, but
due to the shortage of medical supplies and appliances because
of the economic sanctions, patients could not be treated
properly resulting in the great increase in the number of
afflicted victims.” (E17).

Likewise, the postwar depredation had driven the best of
doctors in Iraq out of country. A lot many of the doctors
and scholars, who stayed behind, were actually classified
with world-class academes, and had participated and presented
the results of their researches in international scientific
and academic conferences. However, due to the economic sanctions,
they were unable to obtain visas so that they could participate
in international conferences and have the opportunity to
continue to establish scholarly exchanges necessary for the
advancement and improvement of the level of medical practice
and treatment in Iraq. Even if they wanted to go overseas
to receive training on radiation exposure, for example, or
perhaps just to procure the necessary medical supplies, they
could not do so because they could not get visas. Data
of Iraqi victims were indispensable in coping with the inexperience
with regard to the effects of radiation due to DU weapons,
and while Iraqi doctors could be in a position to provide
those data and materials, the economic sanctions hampered
their progress and development. (E18)

Dr. Junan, a cancer expert at the Ibn Gaswan Hospital, a
Maternity and Pediatrics Hospital in the city of Basra related, “Children’s
leukemia, if treated thoroughly at the early stage, has a
70% chance of being cured, but the kind of medicine for this
ailment is not available, and so, the patients cannot be
treated well, and lamentably just end up dying. But
under the present economic sanctions, we are allowed only
to procure food supplies in exchange for oil, and we are
forced to make do with only 20% of needed medical supplies. How
then can we cure the sick?” In 2001 alone, 256 cases
had been confirmed to be born with congenital defects in
this hospital. (E19).

Health Hazard on Veterans of the Gulf War

Apparently, it is not only the people of Iraq but also veterans
of the Gulf War in 1991 that have suffered from the effects
of the use of these hazardous weapons. Among them, there
has been a high incidence of various ailments in different
parts of the body ranging from loss of hair, migraine,
arthralgia, gastralgia, diarrhea to defective memory, insomnia,
etc.,
actually chronic symptoms of cancer, leukemia and immunodeficiency
to start with.

According to the year-end survey conduced by the National
Gulf War Resource Center, Inc. (NGWRC) in 1999, of the 504,047
ex-servicemen, who retired from the service after the war,
and were eligible for pension from the Veterans’ Affairs
Administration, 263,000 or more than 52% of these veterans
had complained of some abnormality in their physical condition,
and had demanded for medical care from the US government
and the Veterans’ Affairs Administration. Also,
185,780 or 37% of these veterans had demanded for compensations
for incapacity to work, etc. due to illness and physical
disability. Nearly half of these veterans complained
of some kind of health hazard, and more than 9,600 of these
veterans in fact are now dead. Although there were
only 147 casualties involved in direct combat during the
Gulf War, after returning home, they started showing manifestations
of some grave health problems (E20).

Moreover, since last year, there are among the US soldiers
stationed in Iraq those who are having strange ailments and
diseases of unknown nature. In a recent survey, the number
of soldiers, who have already taken leave for medical reasons
has reached 18,000, and in all manifestation, the cause seems
to be depleted uranium (E21).

However, even when this kind of tragedy continues to happen,
the US State Department insists that “the claim that
DU is the cause of cancer of infants in Iraq is groundless,” or
that “it is highly probable that the use of chemical
weapons containing carcinogen by the Iraqi military, etc.
is the real cause of cancer and birth defects.” But
similar symptoms can be observed in Bosnia and Kosovo where
such chemical weapons mentioned by the US have not been used.

Health Hazards After the Balkan War

NATO troops used depleted uranium by firing about 10,800
shots (2750kgs) at Bosnia-Herzegovina from 1994 to 1995,
and about 31,000 shots (ton) in 1999 at the Kosovo Province
of the Yugoslavian Republic. After the conflict, among
the personnel of the PKO and the local people, countless
numbers
of them have turned out complaining of symptoms similar
to those of veterans of the Gulf War.

(1) According to the Jovanovich Health Center
in Bosnia, out of the 5,000 villagers who escaped from the
Hajici Village of Bosnia-Herzegovina, by January 2001, about
400 people had died mainly of cancer. At Hajici, there
was a weapon factory of the old Yugoslavian military, and
a large quantity of depleted uranium bombs must have been
used to destroy it. (E22).

(2) People connected with the Kosovska Mirtovia
in the Kosovo Province had pointed out that by on January
11, 2001, after the bombing raid conducted by the NATO in
Kosovo, the number of cancer patients in the said hospital
increased by about 200%, and last year, the number reached
160. They denounced the use of DU bombs that they believed
was the cause of the increase in the number of cancer patients
based on the fact that 40% of these patients were native
of regions that were bombarded with DU bombs. (E23)

(3) The people of Iraq and Bosnia as well as
the veterans of the Gulf War and the Balkan War all show
the same manifestations of grave physical sufferings and
injuries, and there is no doubt that these are the effects
of depleted uranium.

Furthermore, the truth about the use of DU weapons by the
US Armed Forces in the war on Afghanistan in 2001 and the
reality of the exposure to DU and the hazards to the health
of the people there were all made clear in the closing argument
of the prosecutor during the International Criminal Tribunal
for Afghanistan.

Clinical Cases of US Veterans in this Iraqi War

As for Samawa, where the Self Defense Force is stationed,
it is strategically located between Basra and Baghdad. The
US army, when marching to Baghdad passing through this route,
met with stiff resistance from Iraqi troops, and it took
them a week to quell the insurgencies in towns and roads
they passed by. Depleted uranium weapons were used
during the fighting.

Dr. Asaf Durakovic, a specialist on Nuclear Medicine, adviser
of the National Science Foundation, and director of the nuclear
medicine clinic created by the US Veterans Department after
the end of the Gulf War, established the Uranium Medical
Research Center, which is an independent research agency
based in Canada, and for several years has continued to examine
evidences of depleted uranium contamination of American,
British and Canadian soldiers.

According to a survey conducted by Dr. Durakovic published
in the New York Daily News dated 3 April 2004, after the
Iraqi War, he detected depleted uranium from the urine of
4 out of 9 US soldiers who were stationed to keep peace and
order in Samawa after the Iraqi War, and returned home due
to bad physical condition after complaining of chronic migraine,
nausea, bloody urine, partial hearing and vision impairment,
etc. (E24). The 442nd MP Company, where the surveyed soldiers
belonged, was in charge of convoy and training of Iraqi policemen,
and was not involved in direct combat. Depleted uranium was
detected in these soldiers, who were doing such mission,
and it was probable that they had been exposed to uranium
by inhalation of depleted uranium particles in the atmosphere. Sgt.
Juan Vega, Chief Medical Orderly of this company related, “One
night, 10 to 15 people just suddenly fell ill and developed
symptoms such as fever of as high as 39.4oC, chill and other
symptoms of unexplained nature. More than a dozen people
out of 160 soldiers suddenly had been having kidney stones.” He
said, “Samawa is like hell.”

The Dutch Company stationed at Samawa after that decided
to set up camp in the middle of the desert because the radiation
level in the environs where the US military set up camps
was just too high.

Medical Verification

For the sake of argument that the above-mentioned damages
have been due to DU, we shall have to prove that there is
a correlation between DU and its effects on the human body
based on medical findings on the existence of this crisis
pertaining to DU. Now, regarding Iraq after the Gulf War
that has reported the most number of DU-related casualties,
we shall use as reference the data gathered by Fasy TM that
were presented at the International DU Symposium held in
New York in June 2003 as a medical paper never before published.

The Teratogenicity of Depleted Uranium

(1) The
Children of Iraq

According to the data gathered by Fasy TM the frequency
rate of congenital dysphasia is 3.04 per 1000 monitored in
Basra, but in 2000, it rose to 17.6 that was 5-6 times higher
than previously reported. This is particularly true
in many reported cases where the parents were soldiers who
participated in the Gulf War. (E25)

(2) Children of Veterans of the Gulf War

The result of a survey conducted to determine the frequency
rate of congenital dysphasia on veterans of the Gulf War
by the US Military Research Institute was published in a
New England Journal of Medicine, a medical journal, according
to Cowan in 1997. The conclusion was that there was no difference
in the rate of frequency of congenital dysphasia of children
of veterans of the Gulf War with veterans who did not go
to the Gulf War (E26).

However, 5 months later, the result of the research conducted
by three British researchers, Pat Doyle, Eve Roman, Noreen
Maconochie, refuting the evaluation made only on children
who were born and lived, disregarding aborted births and
stillbirths due to massive congenital deformities, excluding
1/3 of overall number of discharged soldiers, and the inaccuracy
of these investigations was published in the same journal
(E27).

In 2001, Kang of the Veterans Affairs Administration announced
a research that would not exclude aborted births/stillbirths,
and veterans in their research. The result was that
compared to veterans who did not go to the Gulf War, congenital
dysphasia on children of veterans who served in the Gulf
War was 2.3 times for male, and 2.4 times for female (E28). The
truth about this increase in number even just on those who
participated in the Gulf War is indeed astonishing.

(3) Animal Experiments

Based on the 2001 research conducted by Domingo JL of Spain,
et al., when male rats were ingested for a period of 16 weeks
with natural uranium, rate of pregnancy decreased, a degeneration
of the testicles (male gonads) occurred, and there was a
decrease in the production of sperms (E29). Also, it
was confirmed that 10 days before and after giving doses
to pregnant mice, ossification is 3 times to 5 times lower
compared to control group in litters, and there are numerous
instances of birth defects of the extremities. (Note: the
radioactivity of natural uranium is 25.9 kilobecquerel, and
that of depleted uranium is 16.3 kilobecquerel).

In 2002, McClain DE, et al. of the US Armed Forces embedded
depleted uranium in rats, and investigated to determine the
effects of DU on the embryo. It was confirmed that the sizes
of the embryos of rats are smaller after more than 6 months
of being embedded with DU passing the placenta (E30).

The congenital dysphasia and various diseases in children
of soldiers who participated in the Gulf War resemble the
conditions of Iraqi children, and this can be traced to the
teratogenicity in DU.

Carcinogenicity of Depleted Uranium

(1) Iraqi Children

Based on the data gathered by Fasy TM, in 1990 in Basra,
out of 100,000 children, there were 3.98 cancer cases, but
in 2000, the number increased to 13.1 cases (E25).

(2) Veterans of the Gulf War

There is no medical report showing that there is a statistical
increase of cancer in veterans of the Gulf War, but there
is a need for a detailed investigation on the rate of incidence
of cancer in children of veterans.

(3) Experiments on Animals

To sum up the series of animal experiments done by Miller,
et al. of the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute,
DU increases the oncogene expression per human cell and cell
disorder growth, etc., and causes the existence of cancer
forming operation. Also, they explain that DU, more
than even nickel that is known to cause tumor, largely increases
more chromosomal abnormality linked with carcinogens (E31).
Hahn, et al reported that thorotrast and DU produce much
more sarcoma (malignant tumor) when they conducted experiments
by embedding tungsten, which is a heavy metal but non-radioactive
material, and radioactive material thorotrast in rats (E32). This
indicates that DU is not only cancer causing as a heavy metal
but is also cancer causing as a radioactive materials.

(4) Effects on the Human Cell

In 2003, Schroeder, et al of Germany analyzed the chromosomal
abnormality of the lymphocytes of 16 soldiers who served
in the Gulf War and Balkan War, and these soldiers were proven
to have been exposed to radiation. They confirmed that the
rate of specific c chromosomal abnormality among these soldiers
was 4.2 higher when they compared the chromosomal abnormality
([dicentric] and [centric ring] chromosomes) that was said
to be specific in ionizing radiation with non-specific chromosomal
abnormality. They hinted and concluded that despite the fact
that the specific chromosomal abnormality cell could not
survive for long (half life being up to the extent of 3.5
years), they observed that even after a lapse of more than
10 years since the Gulf War, the body continued to be exposed
to radiation due to the DU that had accumulated inside the
body for long years (E33).

On top of this, they noted based on available data from
Hiroshima and Nagasaki the fact that this exposure to radiation
could cause chromosomal abnormality in lymphocytes.

Thus,
there is no doubt that the cause of cancer such as the
increase in the number of cases of leukemia in Iraq today
is connected with DU.

It is evident that based on the data of Fukuda in 1998,
which are data comparing the physical condition of soldiers
who participated in the Gulf War (hereinafter referred to
as GWV) with soldiers who did not participate in the Gulf
War (hereinafter referred to as non-GWV), the frequency of
various symptoms of chronicity is 39% in GWV against 14%
in non-GWV of light and medium, etc. symptoms, and 6% in
GWV against 0.7% in non-GWV of serious illness (E34). It
is evident that frequency of such symptoms is higher in soldiers
who participated in the Gulf War. It cannot be far from the
truth that based on the data of Kang in 1996, the rate
of death in GWV is 10.4 against 9.6% in non-GWV showing statistically
a difference (E35). However, in the 2002 data of Kang, it
shows that the number of accidental deaths is more numerous
among GWV than among the non-GWV (36). Also, in 1997,
Gray reported that hospitalization rate was 10% higher among
soldiers who participated in the Gulf War (37).

It is true that going to war is accompanied by a great
risk, and the appearance of various symptoms after returning
from the war is designated as “war syndrome.” However,
based on the report of Harvey RW, et al. of 2002, among the
soldiers returning from the war, the number of the disabled
persons, who have received services after that, 8.6% served
in World War II, 5% in the Korean War, 9.6% in the Vietnam
War and in the case of the Gulf War, it has reached 16% (estimated
at 110,000 persons) (E38). It is evident that the Gulf
War, compared with other wars, has caused a lot many damages,
and they cannot be categorized simply as some risk of going
to war.

Countless researches are being conducted on the causes
of these symptoms, but no massive investigation placing primary
focus on DU has been done. There exist, however, an
extensive literature relating to depleted uranium

(2) Experiments on Animals.

Pellmar TC, et al, in 1999, revealed evidences of DU causing
brain damage by embedding it in rats (E39), and they arrived
at the conclusion that DU produces neurological disorder.
Also, as for effects of depleted uranium on peripheral nerves,
they observed the occurrence of cramps, pain in the extremities,
gait disorder, shiver, etc., and that there is damage of
calcium metabolism of the neuromuscular junction.

(3) Psycho-neuron Abnormalities

McDiarmid, et al. of the Department of Veterans Affairs
Medical Center, in a research paper published in 2000, tested
29 people in 1997 out of the 33 veterans with fragments of
DU in their body they had put under observation since 1993. They
observed the neurocognizance test becoming bad in proportion
to the high concentration of DU in their urines, and abnormality
in the hormone function of the reproductive system. Also,
they reported the genetic damage and the sperm count abnormality
(E40). Yet, while they recognize this sort of health problems,
they made it look that there were not much complaints about
the symptoms when comparing them with the 21 Gulf War veterans
who had not been exposed to DU (E40). However, 11 out
of the 21 were in fact suffering from some neuron abnormality
and were in extremely bad condition, and a terrible deception
was evidently carried out. Similarly, tests were conducted
in 1999, and in the report published in 2001, 29 people with
incomparably low concentration of DU in their urines to the
21 out of the previous 33 people tested were added, and this
was to intentionally dilute the results in an attempt to
eliminate the difference abnormal neuron and reproductive
hormone levels (E41)

(4) Chromosomal Abnormality

As previously stated, the chromosomes of 16 people who have
been suffering from Gulf War syndrome are 5.2 times higher
of [dicentric] and [ring centric] chromosomes. Others also,
according to Uranobitz, et al, have verified seeing the chromosomal
abnormality in veterans of the Gulf War who have shown suchsymptoms
(E42).

(5) Increase of Depleted Uranium Density in Urine

P Horan, et al of Canada examined the urines of 27 American,
British
and
Canadian patients, and detected a high density of DU in 14
people. This
data
proves the fact that even after 8 or 9 years after exposure
to DU, high density of DU are being discharged in the urine
(E43).

In addition, Durakovic, et al have examined the uranium
in the urine of 8 residents of 8 regions in Afghanistan who
have symptoms similar to Gulf War syndrome, published in
2003 data on the detection of high density of uranium in
the urine of all of them (E44). Furthermore, in 2004,
they published the data on the detection of DU in the urines
of 4 out of 9 American soldiers, who were in charge of maintaining
public order after the Iraqi War, and returned home due to
poor physical condition (E24).

It is clear from the investigations conducted by Horan and
Durakovic that DUremains in the body for several years. There
is no doubt about the DU being more or less in part the cause
of the Gulf War syndrome, and its toxicity.

There are researchers who recognize the toxicity of DU even
within the US Military

Arfsten DP of the Naval Health Research Center and Rictchie
GD, et al of the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base have studied
in detail all US military researches, etc. up until then,
and in 2001, in their joint names, published their dissertation
(E45).

(1) High density of DU in the urine
was detected after a lapse of 10 years from soldiers, who had
inhaled particles or pierced with fragments of DU during
theconflict at
the Gulf War and Kosovo

(2) In mice, the DU accumulated in the
testicles, bone, kidneys, and brain.

(3) In
test-tube experiments, there were the genetic disorder characteristic
andteratogenicity,
and the rat, when embedded with DU, developed brain tumor.

(4) It is possible to say that whether
it is as a heavy metal or radioactivity, it has strong effect
on the reproduction of rats.

In this treatise, there is the remark that “the opinion
expressed here does not reflect the opinion of the military
but are based on the point of views of the authors.” However,
even as researchers of the military, they have sufficiently
recognized the damages caused by DU.Recognizing the risks
is not limited to their researches. As previously stated,
numerous medical researches relating
to DU are being conducted even with grants from the military.
Even when they are being conducted under the direct supervision
of the military, these researches are being given emphasis
even when they may verify the danger of DU.

Suffice it to say, it is clear from existing medical dissertations
that DU is an extremely dangerous substance that does not
only cause temporary disorders,but
chronic health breakdown, congenital defects, carcinogens,
and otherdisorders.

Effects to the Human Body Exposed Internally to
Radiation

1 Official Stand of WHO

The World Health
Organization has taken the stand of consistently denying
the danger of depleted uranium. Its basic statement
has been that if exposure has not exceeded the permissible
limit of radiation dosage (In case of the general public,
1millisievert per year), even if one is exposed to radiation,
it will not pose any danger. However, in a public statement
in January 2003 it expressed its most recent stand on DU
radiation and recommended that “there would be a need
for places where contamination to depleted uranium has exceeded
the tolerable level to be cleaned up” and that “children
are in danger, so they should be protected,” and this
conceivably is admission of the fact that substantially,
DU can cause health hazards (E46).2 Method of Evaluation
of Present-day Exposure to RadiationJust how much dosage is
the tolerable limit one can be exposed to radiation is being
calculated today on
the basis
of the Radiation Risk Model of the International Commission
on Radiological Protection (ICRP). If we follow the
Radiation Risk Model of ICRP, the low dosage of DU, and being
of the same degree of exposure to those of other radiation
sources and radiation of the natural world, will make it
less harmful to the health. Also, ICRP’s admission
of the effects of radiation to the human body is limited
to leukemia, solid cancer, congenital defects, and effects
on genes, and on this theory, it is saying that symptoms
resembling the Gulf War syndrome has nothing to do with DU
exposure. Contentions by WHO, IAEA (International Atomic
Energy Agency) or governments of countries dependent on these
agencies and are denying the danger of DU weapons are founded
on this.3 What kind of agency is the ICRP?

According to Rosalie Bertell of Canada, a
scholar in the field of Radiology, in 1952, physicists, who
took part in
the Manhattan Project, tried to intervene in the National
Committee on Radiation Protection of the International Congress
of Radiology, and approached the members of the radiology
commission calling for a collaboration, and the organization
called “ICRP” was created from this merger. The
ICRP, with members designated reciprocally within the group,
and with no fixed tenure of office, is a sort of a non-governmental
organization (NGO), and is composed of physicists and radiologists
of nuclear-capable countries, biophysicists, and administrative
officials in charge of medical care. And out of the
13 members of the Main Committee of the ICRP, several of
them were having additional posts also in the U.N. Scientific
Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, and use faces
of both parties. ICRP and UNSCEAR are not official
public health and sanitation organizations. ICRP is
supposed to be making the decisions regarding political and
economic gains of the use of atomic energy (including development
and actual testing of nuclear weapons) and the tolerance
level to prevent predictable health hazards by exposure to
radiation, and the UNSCEAR is supposed to permit society
to make this choice (E47).

ICRP is neither an agency of the United Nations nor is it
agency having responsibility to the U. N., and yet, despite
the fact that it is no more than a private group composed
of people of with vested interests of nuclear-capable countries
and atomic energy industry, this agency behaves in the manner
as if the recommendations it releases are of solemn conclusions
of experts, and even manage politically to have them formulated
into laws of various countries starting with those in the
agencies of the U. N. Moreover, that theory, like the theory
established in connection with the effects of the exposure
to radiation, released by universities and research agencies
even now, are being used for educating the young people.

The application of ICRP Radiation Risk Model to internal exposure
is not valid.

The ICRP Radiation Risk Model was created by using data
obtained from surviving atomic bomb victims of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki. The surviving victims of the atomic bombs
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were exposed mainly by being bathed
externally with high dosage of gamma ray (external exposure). The
Radiation Risk Model has been created on the basis of data
obtained on this one specific condition that is called “acute
dosage of external exposure,” and ICRP is making something
like this risk model to conform deductively and applied even
to internal exposure (exposure from within the internal body)
of varying chronicity of all conditions (E48).

Whether or not the ICRP Radiation Risk Model is applicable
also to internal exposure, it can be confirmed by investigating
the real damages. However, this model that has been
created by using data of external exposure cannot possibly
accurately evaluate the effects of internal exposure. A classical
example that this model could not totally evaluate real damages
was the nuclear power accident at Chernobyl.

As a consequence of the Chernobyl nuclear power accident,
various symptoms of low dosage exposure in disaster areas
in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine wereconfirmed. Despite
the release of numerous studies made on the manifestation
of additional ailments, the IAEA, UNSCEAR and WHO have concluded
that the causes of those ailments are due to psychological
reasons and stress. The remarkable increase in the
rate of occurrence of cancer of the thyroid gland uniquely
among children has been verified, but even when there is
this increase of cancer of the thyroid gland, UNSCEAR has
underestimated the real damages by insisting on following
the ICRP model (E48, 49).

In the first place, the Radiation Risk Model is nothing
but a theory. By traditional scientific methodology, data
obtained from actual cases will have more bearing than theory,
and that is, reality should have more priority. In other
words, theory should be dismissed if it is not applicable
and no conformity with the reality that can be seen. However,
in the case of its estimation of radiation damages, if the
ICRP theory is not applicable and does not conform to the
reality, then, it is rejecting reality (E50).This is the
current status over the damages of radiation, and after the
war, the ICRP theory has been used to hide
from the eyes of the world the truth about victims of radiation
of the Three-Mile Island nuclear power accident and the Chernobyl
nuclear power accident, and even today, it is being brought
out to repudiate the hazards of DU weapons once again.

The effects on the human body by depleted uranium are proven
in the aforementioned medical papers, and various symptoms
besides cancer andcongenital defects are being confirmed. The
general principle of the scientific methodology, namely that
the truth should have more priority over theory is once more
being affirmed now, and we insist that the ICRP theory should
be abandoned on the basis of its denial of the danger of
DU.

ECRR Radiation Risk Model

Anti-nuclear movements that could not turn
their eyes from the damages prevalent in such places of the
environs of heteroatom
facilities, etc. as the regions polluted with depleted
uranium, the Chernobyl nuclear power accident, and scientists
cooperating
with those movements have insisted that damages caused
in reality by low dosage of exposure to radiation cannot
be
connected to the traditional ICRP Radiation Risk Model,
and have pointed out the danger to health by low level radiation
exposure.

In the midst of this, on the occasion that the European
Union Parliament was greatly arguing about these issues,
the problem of low dosage radiation exposure likewise prompted
the promulgation of measures for the recycling and reuse
of radiation wastes, and in this connection, the European
Committee on Radiation Risk was established for the purpose
of reviewing the traditional ICRP Radiation Risk Model, and
in 2003, the ECRR announced its recommendations. Those
recommendations have pointed out that the effect to the human
body of internal exposure cannot be assessed with the ICRP
Radiation Risk Model. And as for internal exposure,
it examined the mechanism of biological damages on cells
and DNA, and created a new Radiation Risk Model (E48). Chris
Busby, a member of the ECRR, calculated the doses of radiation
in the case of having 1 micrometer of a (alpha) emitting
micro particles absorbed into the body on the basis of this
risk model, and the dose given to the structure that was
in the range of 30 micrometers of micro particles showed
500 to 1000 millisievert per 1 year (E51). This numerical
value, by far, exceeds the radiation tolerance level (in
the case of ordinary people, 1 millisievert per year) shown
by WHO.

In the case of applying the ICRP Radiation Risk Model,
even with the absorption into the body of micro particles
of depleted uranium, the radiation level will be low, but
based on the Radiation Risk Model of the ECRR, the same exposure
will most likely be evaluated with high level of exposure.

The ECRR has recognized also the various health hazards
caused by radiation. Asaf Durakovic, in his treatise
(Undiagnosed Illnesses and Radioactive Warfare) published
in the Croatia Medical Journal, verified the medical thesis
on DU, and reported that contamination inside the body by
depleted uranium could cause various cell mutation and DNA
damage (E44). This report substantiated the legality of the
theory of the ECRR Radiation Risk Model.

Awareness on the Toxicity of DU weapons of the US
Armed Forces

The following are the explanations about the fact that
the US Military is fully aware that DU weapons are harmful
to the body by the development process of these weapons:

Letters to General Groves

In October 1943, 3 physicists, A. H. Compton, et
al., sent a letter proposing “research on development
and protection of radioactive weapons” to General Groves
who took part in the Manhattan Project (E52).

In this letter, the 3 doctors proposed the organization
of a team for the sake of doing researches on the handling
and preparation of radioactive materials as weapons, and
also, the preparation in case the Nazi Germans would be ahead
in developing similar weapons, and on protection from these
weapons. They hypothesized that these are weapons behaving
just like toxic gas weapons.

In the letter, they proposed, “as a gas warfare instrument
the material would be grounded into particles of microscopic
size to form dust and smoke and distributed by a ground-fired
projectile, land vehicles, or aerial bombs. In this
form personnel would inhale it into the lungs. The amount
necessary to cause death to a person inhaling the material
is extremely small. It has been estimated that one
millionth of a gram accumulating in a person’s body
would be fatal.” Also, it mentioned, “Two
factors appear to increase the effectiveness of radioactive
dust or smoke as a weapon. These are:

1 It cannot be detected by the senses;

2 It can be distributed in a dust or smoke form so finely
powdered that it will permeate a standard gas mask filter
in quantities large enough to be extremely damaging. An
off-setting factor in its effectiveness as a weapon is that
in a dust or smoke form the material is so finely pulverized
that it takes on the characteristic of a quickly dissipating
gas and is therefore subject to all the factors (such as
wind) working against maintenance of high concentrations
for more than a few minutes over a given area.”

Moreover, in the letter, they stated the method of using
weapons of this
type,

1 As a terrain contaminant, these are spread on the ground
through the air or from the ground, and depending on the
amount, the effects of the radiation on a person would probably
not be immediate, but would be delayed for days or perhaps
weeks and lead to death…for average terrain, no decontaminating
methods are known.

2 As a gas warfare instrument, inhalation of infinitesimal
volume of substances distributed in the form of a dust or
smoke or dissolved in liquid can be fatal. And regarding
the effects of these, “as for the terrain contaminated
with radioactive dust and smoke…radioactive materials
can be stirred up as a fine dust from the terrain by winds,
movement of vehicles or troops, etc., and would remain a
potential hazard for a long time. Especially in the
case of the latter, “These materials may also
be so disposed as to be taken into the body by ingestion
instead of inhalation. Reservoirs or wells would be
contaminated or food poisoned with an effect similar to that
resulting from
inhalation of dust or smoke…..Particles larger than 1 [micron] in
size are likely to be deposited in nose, trachea or bronchi and then be brought
up with mucus on the walls at the rate of 1/2 – 1 cm/min. Particles
smaller than 1 [micron] are more likely to be deposited in the alveoli where
they will either remain indefinitely or be absorbed into the lymphatic or blood.,,,,that
while chemical gas weapons may exhibit faster effect, the radioactive substance
has more permanent effects.”

Here we should exercise special caution regarding the fact
that this letterevidently hypothesize internal exposure,
and though it did specify it to be Uranium 238, it recognized
the danger of internal exposure caused by micro-particles
of radioactive materials.

Some of the U.S. Government’s Documentation of
Harmful Effects of D.U. Weapons

Documents provided by the Campaign Against Depleted Uranium
(CADU) of UK are cited below to prove the harmful effects
of DU (E53):

A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) advisory circular
by M. C. dated 20 December 1984 warning FAA crash site investigators
about encounters with planes laden with depleted uranium,
aircraft balance weights at sites, when investigating plane
crashes accidents that “if particles are inhaled or
ingested, they can be chemically toxic and cause a significant
and long-lasting irradiation of internal tissue.”

On March 7, 1979, the US Army Mobility Equipment, Research
and Development Command stated, “Not only the people
in the immediate vicinity, emergency and fire fighting personnel,
but also people at distances downwind from the fire are faced
with potential over exposure to air borne uranium dust.” (This
was disclosed in accordance with request based on the Freedom
of Information Act to the National Gulf War Resources Center
by Chris Kornkven, et al.)

U.S. Army Environmental Policy Institute, in a June 1995
report to Congress, says depleted uranium has the potential
to generate “significant medical consequences” if
it enters the body. “The radiation dose to critical
organs depends upon the amount of time that depleted uranium
resides in the organs. When this value is known or estimated,
cancer and hereditary risk estimates can be determined.”

On May 26 1997, the Nation Magazine published an article
about the U.S. Army Armaments, Munitions and Chemical Command
(AMCCOM) report in July 1990 that depleted uranium is a “low
level alpha radiation emitter, which is linked to cancer
when exposures are internal, and that chemical toxicity causes
kidney damage.” Also, AMCCOM’s radiological task
group has stated, “Long term effects of low doses (of
DU) have been implicated in cancer…there is not dose
so low that the probability of effect is zero.”

On August 16, 1993, Col. Robert G. Claypool of the U.S.
Army Surgeon General’ s Office, in a letter, says, “When
soldiers inhale or ingest DU dust, they incur a potential
increase in cancer risk. The magnitude of that increase can
be quantified if the DU intake can be estimated. Expected
physiological effects from exposure to DU dust include possible
increase in the outbreak of cancer and kidney damage.”

Health hazards data, (the Materials Safety Data Sheet:MSDS)
from the U.S. Department of Labor says that the “(DU)
increases the risk of lung carcinoma and chemical toxicity
to kidney. Decay products of U-238, U-235, and U-234 are
just as hazardous.”

These documents indicated that before the Gulf War, and
even after that, the US Armed Forces and the US government
have long been doing investigations repeatedly on the danger
of depleted uranium, and the hazards of internal irradiation,
and knew fully well about its carcinogenicity and teratogenicity.

After the Gulf War, this awareness spread to the US Congress. In
1992, the US General Accounting Office and the Senate Appropriations
Committee recommended the probe on the effects to the human
body and environment of depleted uranium to the Department
of Defense and the US Army respectively, and in June, 1993,
in response, the Department of the Army, submitted the plan
for such course of action, namely, “complete
medical testing of personnel exposed to DU contamination,” “provide
adequate training for personnel who may come in contact with
DU contaminated equipment from now,” etc. (E54).

However,
this plan up to now has not been enforced, and as stated
below are deliberately being ignored and distorted:

Testimony of Doug Rokke

Doug
Rokke was a professor of Physics and Environmental Science
at the Jacksonville University, an Army major (Reserve),
and in 1994-95 was in charge of the DU Project of the Pentagon.
He took the stand and answered questions from the prosecutors
of the International Criminal Tribunal for Afghanistan regarding
the said project. As to the background of the formation
of this DU Project team of the Pentagon, he said, “Commissioned
officers from the UK, Australia, Canada and Germany participated
in the project to study the risk of DU weapons and I was
tasked by the Army to direct the team. The objective of the
project was to ensure that adequate information and training
to soldiers being deployed to the battlefield are provided
by making it clear to them the risks and hazards when DU
bomb weapons are used, and to know what kind of countermeasures
and precautionary measures should be adopted, and to make
proposals as to how to clean up the DU bullets. Also, we
submitted recommendations, which were completely ignored.
Up to this day, the US Armed Forces the US army has not taken
any measures to protect the soldiers.” He also
mentioned, “We made a proposal that clean-up was essential,
but in reality, complete clean-up was impossible. Therefore,
we proposed not to use DU weapons any longer. However our
proposal was ignored by the upper level of the government
and completely ignored by NATO, UK, Australia and others.”

Furthermore, Doug Rokke said that as part of the DU project,
they made several videotapes that were supposed to be produced
as videotapes on DU bombs of the Pentagon. “The
first one was an advisory on what kind of danger was there
when a DU bomb would explode, the second about a manual on
when a clean up was being done, and the third one was on
how to measure the radiation, and we made clear that a Geiger
counter would not be effective in measuring DU bombs. The
fourth one was about what kind of equipment should be used
in destroying the residue of the DU bomb, and the fifth one
was on how to handle dud (unexploded) bombs. These
were produced especially for the sake of soldiers who would
go on dangerous missions, but in the end, they were never
used.” he stated.

The US started the DU weapon project, but because of the
report that was released about the extremely high risk of
DU weapons, and recommendation that they should not be used,
the results of the researches of the project were classified.
Through the proliferation of these information and videos,
the hazardous nature of DU weapons had become clear, and
the US feared being showered with criticisms by the international
community, and that DU weapons would no longer be used ever.
This is how, according to Doug Rokke, et al. was their recommendations
were ignored, their project dissolved, and why nothing is
done ever to protect the soldiers from DU weapons nor provide
them with medical care (E56).

Awareness on the Violations of International Laws in the US
Armed Forces

Within the US Armed Forces, they are aware
about possible violation of international law regarding the
use of this
type of weapons being a violation of international laws in
addition to awareness of matters of this nature related to
the danger of depleted uranium as stated above.

The U.S. Air Force’s 1976 manual titled “International
Law: The Conduct of Armed Conflict and Air Operations” names
treaties, including The Hague Conventions of 1907, the Geneva
Gas Protocol of 1925, and the Geneva Convention Relative
to the Protection of Civilians in Time of War, 1949, and
specifically recognized as binding by the US Armed Forces.

The Geneva Gas Protocol outlaws asphyxiating, poisonous
or other gases, and all analogous liquids, materials or devices,
and the Hague Conventions explicitly forbid the use especially
of poison or poisoned weapons. The Air Force manual defines
poison as “biological or chemical substances causing
death or disability with permanent effects when, in even
small quantities, they are ingested, enter the lungs or bloodstream,
or touch the skin.” The manual says, “Any weapons
may be put to an unlawful use,” and unequivocally, “A
weapon may be illegal per se if either international custom
or treaty has forbidden its use under all circumstances.
An example is poison to kill or injure a person.”(E56)

The 70's was a period when the US military began a full-scale
development and production of DU bombshells. From this
period onward, the US Air Force has been fully aware that
DU weapons are poisonous weapons, and that their use will
be a violation of international laws, and yet, even with
that knowledge, they are used in attacking Iraq, and its
insistence that the use of DU weapons “is not illegal” on
the ground that it has never been explicitly forbidden by
any war convention is definitely a deception.

Another document that can support this fact is the memorandum “On
the Effectiveness of Depleted Uranium Penetrators” of
the Los Alamos National Laboratory written by Lieutenant-Colonel
M V Ziehman dated March 1, 1991 immediately after the Gulf
War. Besides pointing out the effectiveness of DU bombs
used extensively in the military operations in Iraq, it reads, “”There
has been, and continues to be, a concern regarding the impact
of DU on the environment. If no one makes the case for the
effectiveness of DU on the battlefields, DU rounds may become
politically unacceptable and be deleted from the arsenal.
If DU perpetrators proved their worth during our recent combat
activities, then we should assure their future existence
(until something better is developed). If proponency
is not garnered, it is possible that we stand to lose a valuable
combat capability. I believe we should keep this sensitive
issue at mind when after action reports are written.” This
is actually a notice advising the US military and various
government agencies to bear in mind and to continue to keep
silent about the continuous use of DU weapons, and bear in
mind possible the great criticism regarding the serious effect
to the human body and the environment of the DU weapons and
the possible violation of laws stated previously (E57).

Reason for the use of DU weapons by the US Armed Forces
notwithstanding

The US Armed
Forces, despite the widespread criticism and skepticism
in and outside of the country, has given as reason
for the continuous use of these deadly poison weapons solely
their cost and military effectiveness. They are considered
as a milestone in nuclear utilization strategy of the US
military. The US Armed Forces, at present is targeting
the development and use of 4th generation nuclear weapons.
Last year, since the lifting of the ban on researches of
small-type nuclear weapons, the Department of Energy has
given the incentives to the chiefs of national laboratories
such as the Los Alamos, etc. by telling them “not to
waste the opportunity” do these nuclear testings, and
one of the projects was the mounting of these small-type
nuclear weapons in bunker busters that were most probably
loaded with depleted uranium, and used in the war in Afghanistan
and Iraq (E58).

The US Armed Forces, as a pioneer in the use for actual
combat of this 4th generation nuclear weapon, despite the
fact that there are other alternatives that may be used as
weapons, has targeted a fait accompli of the claim that the
radiation pollution by this use of DU weapons is within “tolerance
level.” The Bush administration has asserted
that “the radioactive pollution is kept under control
to the minimum” of subterranean small-type nuclear
weapon penetrators, but even if they are restricted temporarily
to only targets of attacks on basement facilities, etc.,
they cause extremely serious contamination of the human body
and environment brought about by a tremendous radioactive
pollution accompanied by a nuclear explosion. The US Armed
Forces conceals this fact by putting emphasis on their tolerance
level addressed to the world, and in an attempt to gain permission
by the international community.

Environmental Pollution by Depleted Uranium (DU)

1 Widespread Radioactive Contamination in Iraq

In this war on Iraq, DU weapons are used in large cities
and towns starting with Baghdad. Many countries have
a limit of public exposure to radiation prescribed by laws
based on the recommendation of ICRP set at 1 millisievert
per annum, and the quantity of depleted uranium equivalent
to this is 11.4 milligrams. The quantity of depleted
uranium contained in a 30-milligram DU bomb is 280 grams. One
shot of this can emit a radiation surpassing the radiation
limit for 25,000 persons per annum by ignition and micronization. In
accordance with the on-the-spot investigations conducted
by privately-run facilities and scientists, it has been reported
that high level radiations are detected from soils surrounding
road ditches and inside of building sites where warheads
and hulls of these DU bombs have rolled into, and war tanks
(E3, E4) The exact amount used is not publicly announced
but Michael Kilpatrick, in a forum stated that even with
just 115 tons, it would be enough to distribute a dosage
per annum of about 100,000,000 people. The depleted uranium
has deeply penetrated the life sphere of people.

At the conclusion of this war on 6 April 2004, UNEP Executive
Director Klaus Toefger said, “UNEP stands ready to
conduct early environmental field studies in Iraq. Given
the overall environmental concerns during the conflict, and
the fact that the environment of Iraq was already a cause
for serious concern prior to the current war, UNEP believes
early field studies should be carried out (E61). This is
especially important to protect human health in a post-conflict
situation due to the apparent use of DU weapons in this war. Immediately
after that, UNEP published a “desk study on the Iraq
environment” that contained information on the risks
to groundwater, surface water, drinking water sources, and
the scattering of radioactive particles. The report
of the British Royal Society in 2002 also predicts that due
to depleted uranium, the radioactive contamination, after
the conflict, will gradually permeate the soil and water
sources in the years ahead (E62).

In the first place, the depleted uranium is a deadly poisonous
substance brought forth as quid-pro-quo for the use of nuclear
power generation to bring wealth and amenities to just a
portion of the population. Laws have been passed regarding
the legal obligation of individuals capitalizing on this
to ensure safety management, and the handling of radioactive
wastes by each nation, which uses atomic energy. The
US national regulation “10CRF20" has stipulated
the strict control of the storage, transfer, and use of depleted
uranium, and the paying of careful consideration and caution
to prevent its leakage to the environment. Is this
legally and morally forgivable that in its own country, the
US government spends lots of money on the strict management
and storage of radioactive materials, but when it comes to
people of other countries, it has no qualms dumping and scattering
large volume of illegal wastes, even putting the fate of
Iraqi in serious danger and jeopardy by radioactivity?

The Development of the Idea of Environmental Protection

The
present global environment was formed from even before the
human race appeared on earth, and
human race has evolved
by conforming and adapting to it. However, the rapid
development of scientific technology by the pursuit for comfort
and convenience brought about the destruction of the ecosystem,
and global environmental pollution, and that has caused the
situation where the very existence of mankind is now in imminent
danger. Amidst this situation, in 1971, the United
Nations convened its first international conference with
the environment for its theme; The United Nations Conference
on the Human Environment, and adopted the ”Declaration
of the United Nations Conference of the Human Environment.”

In the declaration are expressed the ideals that “both
aspects of man’s environment, the natural and the man-made,
are essential to his well-being and to the enjoyment of basic
human rights the right to life itself,” “All
countries, organizations and individuals at every level,
all sharing equitably in common efforts, to achieve this
environmental goal will demand the acceptance of responsibility
and by their values and the sum of their actions, will shape
the world environment of the future,” and “all
countries shall bear the responsibility that their respective
countries will not cause damage to the regional environment
of another country.”

The deepening and development of the environmental ideology
was derived from movements attempting to regulate the environmental
destruction brought about by the war. The treaty on the prohibition
of military and other hostile use of environmental modification
techniques, which was approved in 1976, prohibits the military
use of environmental modification technique ((any technique
for changing through the deliberate manipulation of natural
processes the dynamics, composition, or structure of the
earth, including its biota, lithosphere, hydrosphere, or
of outer space) likely to have widespread, long-lasting and
also severe effects as a means to cause destruction, damage
and also injury. Simultaneously, Supplementary Protocol
of the Geneva Conventions also came into effect, and stipulated
that “it is prohibited to use as means or method of
combat intending or predicting to inflict widespread, long-lasting,
and severe injury.”

Precautionary Principle

However,
without limiting it to the conduct of war, the technique and
knowledge of being able to predict exactly
how much effect modern activities of men associated with
progress of technology to the environment cannot be established
at present. Consequently, the idea about the “precautionary
principle” emerged in the middle of international conferences
and treaties regarding environment. At the United Nations
Conference on Environment of 1992, in the “Rio Declaration,” with
regard to the Precautionary Principle, it specifies, “In
order to protect the environment, In order to protect the
environment, the precautionary approach shall be widely applied
by States according to their capabilities. Where there
are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full
scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing
cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.” To
prioritize this principle, it is not difficult to imagine
the fact about seeking profit or causing the stagnation of
researches, and for that, there will be a deep-rooted opposition
to enterprise, etc., and there will be a division of opinions
between nations. However, irrevocable environmental
problems on the global scale such as ecosystem abnormalities,
etc. causing global warming and endocrine disrupting substance
have extensively been observed, and in 2000, an EU Commission
set forth the policy called “to standardize the Precautionary
Principle regarding environmental problems.” We,
human being, who have repeatedly polluted and destroyed the
environment for the sake of profit and greed and lack of
foresight, have come to this stage, and while at the same
time there is the issue of protecting our fundamental human
rights and preservation of the ecosystem, that may motivate
us to start taking notice at last of our important responsibility
to the future.

Regarding this problem, scientists and specialist of capitalist
countries have been playing a great role, and concentrating
their efforts in promoting the Precautionary Principle by
publishing their statements in the Wingspread Conference
of 1998 or the International Conference regarding Science
and Precautionary Principle in 2001. While they are
still a minority, they have had influence in policy making.
An ordinance adopted by the City of San Francisco in California
is an example. Also, hereafter, there will be a need
for the citizens to join hands and furthermore, to uphold
the precautionary principle.

Here at last, mankind has recognized the need for voluntary
restraints as a common duty and responsibility in order to
prevent the complete destruction of the environment because
people have become heedless of the environment, concerned
only in making profits, and selfish in their attitude and
mentality. The conceptualization of that is the “precautionary
principle,” and we should bear in mind to take upon
ourselves the responsibility to continue to affirm that this
will become a basic ideology of mankind regarding the protection
of the environment, and also to exert effort to observe it.

We believe that we should perceive the precautionary principle
as something to deepen and develop an international humanitarian
law and naturally apply it even to the conduct of war. The
stipulation in the treaties and supplemental protocols stated
previously to ban “the ways and means of military combat
forecasted to cause widespread, long-lasting and severe effect
and injury to the environment, should be applied at a time
when some conduct is foreseen to have possible grave impact
on the environment for the sake of actually demonstrating
its valid restraining force. To put it plainly, the use of
DU weapons, which has been dispersing the radioactivity that
has possible grave impact on the ecosystem, is an apparent
illegal act if the international humanitarian law in the
context of this historical development of environmental protection
achieved by the precautionary principle is understood.

The Crime of the Omnicide

On the other
hand, at the International Criminal Tribunal for Afghanistan,
a judgment has been passed that states that
the use of DU weapons is an act that means a threat to the
existence of even neighboring countries of the whole region,
extinction of all life-forms, pollution of the air, water
and food resources, or the irreversible alteration of genetic
mutation of all life forms including vegetation, or in other
words, it constitutes an omnicidal crime (E66). This is a
fact that focuses attention to the danger of depleted uranium
said to affect the ecosystem, and the use of that is perceived
to be an act of large-scale massacre of all life forms on
earth. The failure to pursue the criminality of that by reason
that the effect to the environment of DU weapons is not sufficiently
established has unavoidably fostered the use and production
of this kind of weapons of destruction of the environment.
That is going against the tide of history of the formation
of the precautionary principle stated previously, and even
in times of war, in order to make the precautionary principle
effectively functional, some regulation of criminal punishment
in case of violations to that principle is necessary. As
a basis of culpability of an act of violation, there is the
omnicide, and the urgent establishment of this concept is
much desired.

Even for the sake of making the international human law
to function effectively hereafter, there is a need for assimilating
the concept called “omnicide” with the precautionary
principle in the environmental sphere. For this reason
likewise, in this place, we denounce the use of DU weapons
as a violation of international laws, and thereby strongly
appeal for banning their use.

The use of DU Weapons As An Evident “War Crime” and “A
Crime Against Humanity”

That the use of DU weapons is an illegal act in violation
of International Humanitarian Law is evidently clear.

The International Humanitarian Law is not something that
will legalize directly the use of those weapons, even in
a case when there is no explicit regulation to immediately
regulate individual weapons, but it has manifested the necessity
forcompliance to

1 a principle of prohibition of the means of causing unnecessary
agony and uselessly aggravating the sufferings of disabled
combatants;

2 the principle of prohibition of the destruction of non-military
objects;

3 the principle of prohibition of weapons of mass destruction.
However, as previously mentioned, the uranium pollution due
to DU weapons has high lethality, and the unnecessary suffering
inflicted indiscriminately on peopleregardless of whether
one is an enemy or an ally, the continuous toxicity even
after the war, and the calamity it is likely to bring to
future posterity are clear indications of their potency to
be indiscriminate, and the fact that this kind of weapons
have been used in densely populated areas, including Baghdad
regardless of whether it is a military object or a non-military
object, shows that the American and British Armed Froces
have evidently violated all the 3 above-mentioned principles.

Crime Against Humanity

The use of DU
weapons by the American and British Armed Forces is an attack
to murder people, plunge them into a
state of deep suffering, noticeably obstruct, wreck and steal
the health due to the genetic disorder, and the long-lasting
destruction of the environment, due to widespread uranium
pollution in all the nation of Iraq, is an “inhumane
act” committed as part of a widespread attack or a
systematic attack on civilians in an armed conflict” (Article
4 of the Official Regulations and Article 7 of ICC), and
both President Bush and Prime Minister Blair, as Commanders-in-Chief,
are criminally accountable for these crimes against humanity
(Article 7 of the Official Regulations Article, and Article
7.a of the ICC). War Crimes

Also, this is clearly an unforgivable war stipulated (in
Articles 2a, d, m and p and Article 2a, b of ICC) as “an
attack intentionally carried out while those involved are
fully aware of the collaterally long-lasting serious damages
to the natural environment,” “poison and toxic
weapons are used” “weapons that have the quality
to inflict serious injury and unnecessary suffering or have
the quality to be indiscriminate are used,” and both
President Bush and Prime Minister Blair, as Commanders in
Chief, are criminally accountable for war crimes (Article
4 of the Official Regulation and Article 2,.a of ICC).

Long before this, The UN Human Rights Subcommittee in August
1996 adopted a resolution that the use of DU weapons constituting
a violation, as a weapon of mass destruction, should be banned
(E63). Also, in July 2003, a report by Yeung Sik Yuen
submitted to the UN Human Rights Subcommittee, showed strong
concern on the adverse effect to health, and environment
pollution due to DU weapons aside from the fact that “the
use of DU weapons is a violation of international laws, can
inflict unnecessary suffering and serious injuries, and can
be a real menace to the environment, and by all mean must
be banned,” and concluded that these weapons (including
DU weapons), regardless of whether they are explicitly banned
or not, should be prohibited.” Also, in this argument,
it was emphasized that states that have used this weapons
in violation of international laws are accountable for compensation
for and decontamination of such deadly weapons..

Not only the UN Human Rights Subcommittee but also other
organizations as well like the European Union Parliament
have adopted resolutions to address this issue. In
February 2003, the European Union Parliament adopted the “Resolution
on the Harmful Effects of DU Bombs and Unexploded Bombs,” and
demanded the European Commission to monitor developments
in relation to the possible serious, widespread contamination
of the environment believed to be due to DU weapons and to
support independent and thorough investigations into the
possible harmful effects of the use of depleted uranium ammunition
(E65).

In this manner, the international sentiment on the banning
of the use of DU weapons has gained momentum, and in the
midst of an awareness to observe international law, the use
of DU weapons by the British and American Armed Forces is
nothing but a profanity against international law that the
international community and hitherto the human race has fostered. The
whole nation of Iraq has become a testing ground for these
weapons where sophisticated technology are freely used including
DU weapons, and by such use, the people of Iraq once again
have been made to bear the pain and suffering of a fate of
a semi-permanent DU pollution.

In the arguments expressed during the public trial of the
International Criminal Tribunal for Afghanistan, the use
of DU weapons was declared a crime of omnicide (the destruction
of all life-forms) for the threat on the survival of not
only the country damaged by this use but also neighboring
countries, the extinction of life, the contamination of the
air, water and food resources, and also, including vegetation,
the irreversible alteration of genetic information of all
life-forms (E66). In this regard, the fact that DU weapons
are being used deprives all life forms that have been born
into this world the right to exist to the fullest, and it
is an unforgivable crime against all living things.

Thus, with conviction, we prosecute the accused, President
Bush and Prime Minister Blair, for the above-mentioned crimes,
and immediately seek compensation for all the victims, and
the removal of radiation pollution. Also, we hereby
affirm that all nations should be legally obligated to ban
the use, storage, production and transfer of DU ammunition;
that we as human beings have the mission to have treaties
concluded and ratified for the execution of those duties;
and we affirm that through our collective efforts, we should
be able to achieve creating an earth, where there will no
longer be any victim hereafter.